In a meeting with members of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Seminaries on Sunday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said seminaries form an inseparable part of the Islamic government.
The Leader then underlined the Islamic government’s need to seminaries that should be “rich [in content] and endowed with science and dynamic and innovative and familiar with modern needs [of the society]” in order to help the Islamic teachings and commands diffuse across various dimensions of people’s life and the depths of the society. The Leader said, “Among the important needs of the seminary under the present conditions is ‘formulating a development plan’ in the seminary and making a long-term, accurate and timed plan on the basis of this development document and goals delineated therein.”
Stressing that plans made by seminaries for different sectors, especially for their graduates and scholars and also for executive and government affairs must be aimed at supporting and cementing seminaries’ relations with the Islamic government, the Leader added, “Seminaries are bases of support for the promotion of Islamic commands. Therefore, if an Islamic government implements an Islamic command in a proper manner, seminaries must support it with all their capacities, and if [the Islamic government] makes a mistake, [seminaries] must issue warnings.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described having “a long-term plan” as a high necessity for seminaries, pointing out, “In this [form of] planning, goals must be totally clear and achievable and have a timetable [attached to them], so that, the plan could be measured quantitatively and also be resilient.”
Ayatollah Khamenei then emphasized that the seminaries’ long-term plan must be based on a “development plan,” adding, “A ‘strategic research center’ formed by elites and intelligent pundits of seminaries must be set up and the [aforementioned] development plan and other strategic plans must be formulated in this center.”
The Leader concluded his remarks by giving a number of recommendations. Ayatollah Khamenei mentioned avoiding government-style bureaucracy, arranging face-to-face meetings between seminary directors and students; creating an atmosphere for seminary students to get closer to the Quran; identification of talented students; encouraging students to study books, especially with regard to the historical course of seminary fields and interpretation of the Quran; as well as training religious preachers capable of producing written materials, orators, and preachers specialized in cyberspace as the main points to which seminaries must pay special attention.
Prior to the remarks by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Reza Ostadi, Secretary of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Seminaries, presented a report on the plans and activities of the council and problems facing it.
Hojjatoleslam Alireza E’rafi, director of seminaries, also took to the podium to explain the most important steps taken in various sectors concerning seminaries’ affairs during past years.